- He has never batted at number three in his Test career despite having the fifth-longest Test career ever in terms of time

- Sachin played 47 of his Tests under the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin - more than any other captain

- He has played 146 Tests with Rahul Dravid, 122 with Anil Kumble, 120 with VVS Laxman and 103 with Sourav Ganguly

- He has played against 485 different players in Test cricket, batting with 65 different players and playing with 108 different team-mates

- He has top-scored on 78 occasions - more than any other Test player - and has only been stumped once, at Bengaluru in 2001 by James Foster off Ashley Giles

He has been involved in 23 run-outs. He was out on 9 occasions and his partner on 14 occasions

- He played 84 successive Tests from 15 November 1989 to 15 June 2001 and overall has played on 59 different Test grounds - more than anyone else

Fact pack

- As an aspiring fast bowler a young Sachin Tendulkar was rejected by Dennis Lillee's MRF Pace Foundation in 1987.

- During the 1987 World Cup, when he was 14, Sachin was a ball boy for the match between India and Zimbabwe at the Wankhede Stadium.

- Sachin has 13 coins from his coach Ramakant Achrekar. He would win a coin if he could get through an entire session of nets without being dismissed.

- Sachin was the first international batsman to be given out by the third-umpire. In 1992, on the second day of the Durban Test, a Jonty Rhodes throw caught Tendulkar short of the crease. After watching TV replays he was adjudged out. Karl Liebenberg of South Africa was third umpire in the match.

- He started off with centuries in his debut matches in the Ranji, Duleep and Irani Trophy.

- Growing up, he would ask his friend Ramesh Pradhe to dip a rubber ball in water and hurl it at him. He wanted to see the wet marks left on the bat to know whether he had middled the ball.